South Korea vs Canada - Friday November 11th (in Cheonan 천안시, Korea)

[UptheReds]

A lot of quality left off the roster, but it doesn't sound like South Korea will be playing their 'A' team either, so we definitely have a good shot. I think our most competitive lineup looks something like this: 

                  Larin --- Haber

Junior --- Piette --- Straith --- Dixon 

De Jong --- Edgar --- James --- Aird 

                      Leutwiler

... Definitely a shortage of attacking players in this camp.

[Fastfeet2]

Still no Gasparotto?

[Soro17]

 

1 hour ago, Jahinho Guerro said:

Bret Levis getting a callup...why no Babouli or Hamilton - granted they are with TFC, but they aren't even on the game day roster? 

Gawwwd damn McKendry? getting a honourable call up...seriously? how about Mark Anthony Gonzalez, or Michael Cox even Tyler Pasher!!! They've all had better seasons then McKendry.

With those kind of call ups, some players are going to ask themselves "what do I have to do to get a call up"!

Relax, take a deep breath and read again. McKendry and Levis did not get called up.

[Shway]

1 minute ago, Soro17 said:

Relax, take a deep breath and read again. McKendry and Levis did not get called up.

rewind, reread.... "Gawwwd damn McKendry? getting a honourable call up...seriously" ....maybe I should've said honourable mention. 

 

I.E. If they weren't injured they would've been called.

[Vince193]

1 hour ago, UptheReds said:

A lot of quality left off the roster, but it doesn't sound like South Korea will be playing their 'A' team either, so we definitely have a good shot. I think our most competitive lineup looks something like this: 

                  Larin --- Haber

Junior --- Piette --- Straith --- Dixon 

De Jong --- Edgar --- James --- Aird 

                      Leutwiler

... Definitely a shortage of attacking players in this camp.

That midfield.

[shermanator]

I think there is a lot of unnecessary (and not unexpected) hand wringing by some over this roster. For me, I would have preferred to see Gasparotto over Ouimette, but to be fair I didn't even realize it until I read his name a few posts back. Again, no big deal.

As per this Steven Sandor article linked below, it looks like the CSA decided that anyone involved in important club games (MLS / NASL playoffs, Champions League) would not be called to this roster. A couple of key points here, which are direct quotes from the article:

1. As Nov. 11 falls within the FIFA-recognized international window, Findlay said that the Canadian program would have had the right to take players from the NASL and MLS teams still playing. But the decision was made that it was better for the program if players on those teams were, as Findlay said, “playing valuable minutes in valuable matches.”

2. Findlay said there were no refusals — that each player who was called and asked to play for Canada ended up accepting the invite.

http://the11.ca/canadian-coach-findlay-expects-south-koreans-to-begin-friendly-with-its-strongest-squad/

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

3 hours ago, Vince193 said:

It's gonna be a massacre.

My reaction when I saw there was no Arfield and no Hutchinson on the roster:

 

 

28 minutes ago, shermanator said:

anyone involved in important club games (MLS / NASL playoffs, Champions League)

So why no Arfield?

[Floortom]

1 hour ago, shermanator said:

I think there is a lot of unnecessary (and not unexpected) hand wringing by some over this roster. For me, I would have preferred to see Gasparotto over Ouimette, but to be fair I didn't even realize it until I read his name a few posts back. Again, no big deal.

As per this Steven Sandor article linked below, it looks like the CSA decided that anyone involved in important club games (MLS / NASL playoffs, Champions League) would not be called to this roster. A couple of key points here, which are direct quotes from the article:

1. As Nov. 11 falls within the FIFA-recognized international window, Findlay said that the Canadian program would have had the right to take players from the NASL and MLS teams still playing. But the decision was made that it was better for the program if players on those teams were, as Findlay said, “playing valuable minutes in valuable matches.”

2. Findlay said there were no refusals — that each player who was called and asked to play for Canada ended up accepting the invite.

http://the11.ca/canadian-coach-findlay-expects-south-koreans-to-begin-friendly-with-its-strongest-squad/

Arfield?

[Floortom]

2 hours ago, UptheReds said:

A lot of quality left off the roster, but it doesn't sound like South Korea will be playing their 'A' team either, so we definitely have a good shot. I think our most competitive lineup looks something like this: 

                  Larin --- Haber

Junior --- Piette --- Straith --- Dixon 

De Jong --- Edgar --- James --- Aird 

                      Leutwiler

... Definitely a shortage of attacking players in this camp.

I think we could play South Korea 5 times and not score a goal with that group. Piette and Straith huh

[El Hombre]

51 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

So why no Arfield?

Perhaps because last time Arfield went on a jaunt with Canada, he lost his starting spot.  It's a friendly.  No harm in seeing what others can do.

3 hours ago, UptheReds said:

A lot of quality left off the roster, but it doesn't sound like South Korea will be playing their 'A' team either, so we definitely have a good shot. I think our most competitive lineup looks something like this: 

                  Larin --- Haber

Junior --- Piette --- Straith --- Dixon 

De Jong --- Edgar --- James --- Aird 

                      Leutwiler

... Definitely a shortage of attacking players in this camp.

I'd make a couple changes, notably switch Dixon and Aird.  Also if we play a 4-3-3, then switch Haber for Bustos to play just behind Larin.

[BearcatSA]

2 hours ago, Fastfeet2 said:

Still no Gasparotto?

I am curious about this, considering that he's a regular first teamer at club level

[Obinna]

I don't think his absence is a huge deal. He is young and getting minutes in the Scottish Championship. I'd say the decision was made to let him stay there and continue his run of games. With Vitória, Edgar and James called, he'd probably be on the bench anyways, so a call to this particular camp may have been to his detriment.

[Obinna]

---------------------Thomas---------------------

Aird-------Vitoria------Edgar-----de Jong

-----------------------Straith-----------------------

Dixon----------------------------------------Tissot

-----------------------Bustos-----------------------

------------------Larin----Hoilett---------------

 

[Floortom]

31 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

Perhaps because last time Arfield went on a jaunt with Canada, he lost his starting spot.  It's a friendly.  No harm in seeing what others can do.

 

I don't think that's true. Pretty sure Arfield came on as a sub for Burnley before the last round of friendlies.

also "no harm in seeing what others can do" would make more sense if we were calling "others". This is the same group we always call really. Other than Trafford (a guy who has mainly played 4th division Polish matches in the last year) who exactly are we calling that isn't a known commodity by this point?

[Vince193]

If Ouimette is being called in, who hasn't played at all for Jacksonville recently, why hasn't Mallan Roberts gotten a shot?

[Obinna]

Because Ouimette has been part of the group, despite his club form (or lack thereof).

Roberts has never really been involved aside from a friendly or two. Not that he hasn't earned it, just saying that's probably why Ouimette got the call over him.

[Stryker911]

No issues with not calling some of the players who have meaningful club football to play. Don't forget that this game is on the other side of the world. That is tough for anyone to recover from.

It is crazy how bad our depth us though. Very few players getting solid minutes at good clubs.

[Blackdude]

Here's what I'd like to see.

                 
                     Larin
                Hoilett    Bustos
de Jong  Straith    Piette  Dixon
            James Edgar Vitoria
                       Thomas

And the main reasons why I want to go 3 at the back is mainly because we have a bad midfield and don't know who else I could start, but wouldn't mind experimenting with that also Dixon, de Jong and Tissot are familiar with the position at wing back so it wouldn't be a problem for them to play it.

Leutwiler plays the second half and you have a bench of Ouimette, Aird, Jakovic, Haber, Trafford Tissot  that is much more manageable and has more options off the bench.

[masster]

10 hours ago, David C. said:

Our match is on a FIFA game day. The two HEX match days are the 11th (same as our game) and the 15th.

Since we're playing a single match, halfway around the world, I'm OK leaving some players off with their clubs for this one. Cheers!

I'm not. People that say they are okay with leaving our best players off these rosters and then complain about us getting tough draws are being hypocritical. The reason we get tough draws is because we don't win enough of these games. The reason we don't win enough of these games is partly due to the fact that we rarely have our best players. We need to break this cycle and this mentality. Every game matters.

[Blackdude]

7 hours ago, masster said:

I'm not. People that say they are okay with leaving our best players off these rosters and then complain about us getting tough draws are being hypocritical. The reason we get tough draws is because we don't win enough of these games. The reason we don't win enough of these games is partly due to the fact that we rarely have our best players. We need to break this cycle and this mentality. Every game matters.

It's not games like that that give us tough draws it's really games between the Two Gold Cups that give us poor rankings. Those games should be put at a premium. 

[Kent]

I know all the arguments for having a weakened roster. Players with important club games, looking at new players, the game is on the other side of the world, etc.

The thing I'm struggling with though is trying to figure out what the goal is of this friendly. Leutwiler and Trafford are the only guys that you could say are here to get a look. Maybe Bustos and Aird as well. Anyways, it doesn't seem like a very experimental squad, and even if it was an experimental squad, why would you schedule a friendly with South Korea if you want to play with an experimental squad? They are miles better than us (have been to each of the last 8 World Cups, ranked about 60 spots higher than us), so why would we handicap ourselves when we play them? If you weren't willing to fly people halfway across the world, why schedule a friendly half way across the world? And if the distance was a factor, why isn't Issey in the squad? Has he retired from international football or something? Or is he hurt maybe? He wasn't listed as one of the injured. I admit, I don't keep up on abroad players very much.

If we want to play South Korea, to me it only makes sense if you are bringing your A team.

If we want to play an experimental squad, we should probably play a weaker team, or another team that will want to play with an experimental squad (not a team that also has a WCQ in this window).

If we just want to give a run out for the majority of the team, why play in South Korea instead of Central America, South America, or even the Caribbean?

Normally I don't really complain about the roster. Leaving Johnson out of the last qualifiers made some sense to me, I didn't think it was a big issue to leave out Osorio (but I do really like him), and I don't usually gripe about the usual whipping boys Ricketts and Haber (although there are guys I would have rather see in this camp than Haber if we are trying for an experimental team). I just can't make sense of what we are looking to achieve with this camp.

[Complete Homer]

59 minutes ago, Kent said:

I know all the arguments for having a weakened roster. Players with important club games, looking at new players, the game is on the other side of the world, etc.

The thing I'm struggling with though is trying to figure out what the goal is of this friendly. Leutwiler and Trafford are the only guys that you could say are here to get a look. Maybe Bustos and Aird as well. Anyways, it doesn't seem like a very experimental squad, and even if it was an experimental squad, why would you schedule a friendly with South Korea if you want to play with an experimental squad? They are miles better than us (have been to each of the last 8 World Cups, ranked about 60 spots higher than us), so why would we handicap ourselves when we play them? If you weren't willing to fly people halfway across the world, why schedule a friendly half way across the world? And if the distance was a factor, why isn't Issey in the squad? Has he retired from international football or something? Or is he hurt maybe? He wasn't listed as one of the injured. I admit, I don't keep up on abroad players very much.

If we want to play South Korea, to me it only makes sense if you are bringing your A team.

If we want to play an experimental squad, we should probably play a weaker team, or another team that will want to play with an experimental squad (not a team that also has a WCQ in this window).

If we just want to give a run out for the majority of the team, why play in South Korea instead of Central America, South America, or even the Caribbean?

Normally I don't really complain about the roster. Leaving Johnson out of the last qualifiers made some sense to me, I didn't think it was a big issue to leave out Osorio (but I do really like him), and I don't usually gripe about the usual whipping boys Ricketts and Haber (although there are guys I would have rather see in this camp than Haber if we are trying for an experimental team). I just can't make sense of what we are looking to achieve with this camp.

Part of the reason is simply to get playing time together. National teams, especially ones like ours with players without a domestic league that play in leagues of such disparate styles, suffer from a lack of cohesion due to the little time they get together. They get forced into simpler playing styles because they can't spend the first 6 games of a season figuring out how to make a formation work. Playing the squad together at every opportunity mitigates that to an extent 

Granted, I agree that I would have liked to see more experimentation this far out from a major tournament. If you're not going to do it now, when is a better time? 

[Kent]

26 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

Part of the reason is simply to get playing time together. National teams, especially ones like ours with players without a domestic league that play in leagues of such disparate styles, suffer from a lack of cohesion due to the little time they get together. They get forced into simpler playing styles because they can't spend the first 6 games of a season figuring out how to make a formation work. Playing the squad together at every opportunity mitigates that to an extent 

Granted, I agree that I would have liked to see more experimentation this far out from a major tournament. If you're not going to do it now, when is a better time? 

That's what I was trying to get at with my third scenario there. "If we just want to give a run out for the majority of the team, why play in South Korea instead of Central America, South America, or even the Caribbean?" I think it would have been more useful, and we could have called more of our players that need to play together as well, if we played within our confederation.

I'll get over it, but I'm just annoyed and a bit confused. I'm not expecting much from this game obviously.

[shermanator]

Perhaps I am numb to watching Canada underperform year over year regardless of whether our best players are in the squad or not, but I just don't see why people are concerned over the roster choices here.

Outside of Arfield, which healthy players who's clubs are not playing MLS / NASL / UCL right now would improve the squad that was brought? Would you rather drop some known commodities for some youth / new faces and watch them get completely outclassed by Korea? I don't think that will benefit the program at all.

Also, don't forget, Korea asked Canada for the friendly, not the other way around. It's an extra friendly and mini camp with some starters and depth players that they would not have had otherwise. If we lose 4-0 again, not a big deal in my opinion.

[SA28]

54 minutes ago, shermanator said:

Perhaps I am numb to watching Canada underperform year over year regardless of whether our best players are in the squad or not, but I just don't see why people are concerned over the roster choices here.

Outside of Arfield, which healthy players who's clubs are not playing MLS / NASL / UCL right now would improve the squad that was brought? Would you rather drop some known commodities for some youth / new faces and watch them get completely outclassed by Korea? I don't think that will benefit the program at all.

Also, don't forget, Korea asked Canada for the friendly, not the other way around. It's an extra friendly and mini camp with some starters and depth players that they would not have had otherwise. If we lose 4-0 again, not a big deal in my opinion.

Wow. Didn't know Korea asked Canada for the friendly. That's..... good news. I'm not as perked up about this game as our last friendly just because of the many missing players. I will definitely still tune in. We will, in all likelihood lose but I like the CSA's thought process in allowing some of the younger/less-opportune players to get some NT experience against very good competition.

I've noticed us Canadians love to complain but I'm satisfied with the opponent, location, squad and reasoning behind all of it. Of course it'd be great to play in South America or at home during every international window but I'm not taking this for granted. 

Not sure if people mention this but it's also a great opportunity specifically for Cyle Larin to play in different countries and face varying levels of competition while becoming accustomed to all the challenges that come with playing abroad. We all know he won't be in Orlando forever and he'll move across the world when he sees fit.

To specifically answer your question though, I don't believe there's a jaw-dropping omission in Findlay's roster. I'd love to have Cavallini somehow back in the NT fold but it is what it is.